Elementar is a German multinational manufacturer of elemental analyzers and isotope ratio mass spectrometers for the analysis of non-metallic elements like

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, sulphur,

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them. Chlorine i ...

. The company emerged from

Heraeus Heraeus is a German technology group with a focus on precious and special metals, medical technology, quartz glass, sensors and specialty light sources. Founded in Hanau in 1851, the company is one of the largest family-owned companies in German ...

, a multinational German engineering company that produced analytical instrumentation. Elemental analyzers and isotope ratio mass spectrometers are used in the fields of analytical and environmental chemistry to measure the elemental and isotopic composition of diverse materials like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fuels, food, water, plants, soil or waste.

History

1897 - 1945

Heraeus historic elemental analyzer 1932

In 1897, the researcher Max Dennstedt reported a simplified method for organic elemental analysis in his publication ''Über Vereinfachung der organischen Elementaranalyse'', making use of platinum from the

Platinum Smelting Factory (founded in 1857) as an oxidation catalyst. In 1899, Richard Küch, researcher at the Heraeus Platinum Smelting Factory, succeeded in producing quartz glass of very high purity, which was soon used for the

elemental analysis Elemental analysis is a process where a sample of some material (e.g., soil, waste or drinking water, bodily fluids, minerals, chemical compounds) is analyzed for its elemental and sometimes isotopic composition. Elemental analysis can be qualita ...

, and

. Between 1900 and 1910, Max Dennstedt substantially improved the procedures of elemental analyses, which was the basis for the first generation of elemental analyzers with electrical furnaces produced by Heraeus. In 1923,

Fritz Pregl Fritz Pregl ( sl, Friderik Pregl; 3 September 1869 – 13 December 1930), was a Slovenian-Austrian chemist and physician from a mixed Slovene-German-speaking background. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1923 for making important contribut ...

received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his ''invention of the method of micro-analysis of organic substances'', using dedicated analytical equipment manufactured by Heraeus. In 1932, the first elemental analyzer for simultaneous detection of

and

was invented. In 1944 and 1945, the town of Hanau, an important German industrial site, as well as Heraeus production facilities, were nearly completely destroyed in Allied

bombing raid Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systemati ...

Since 1945

Elementar modern elemental analyzer 2011

After the Second World War, the company diversified its elemental analysis products, but an extensive reorganization of the

core business divisions in the early 1990s resulted in plans to discontinue the production of elemental analyzers. In 1995, the elemental analysis business of Heraeus was sold in a management buyout to Hans-Peter Sieper, at that time head of the Heraeus elemental analysis division. Hans-Peter Sieper restructured the business under the brand name Elementar. Under his management, the company grew into a global company group with offices in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, China,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, Japan,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and Australia, and operations in many other countries. In 2008, Elementar acquired Isoprime Ltd., a company specialised on the construction of isotope ratio mass spectrometers (IRMS), and set the basis for entry into the market of stable isotope ratio analysis. Following a decision in 2016 to consolidate all products under a single identity the IRMS products were re-branded from the beginning of 2017 as Elementar and Isoprime Ltd was renamed Elementar UK Ltd at the same time.

Corporate structure

Elementar

Elementar is specialized in the development and production of elemental analyzers for the measurement of

, sulphur,

and

for product quality and purity control of food, fuels, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The production facility is located in

Langenselbold Langenselbold () is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the river Kinzig, 10 km east of Hanau. In 2009, the town hosted the 49th Hessentag The Hessentag (; en, Hesse Day) is an annual event, both fai ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

, Germany.

Elementar UK (formerly known as Isoprime)

Elementar UK produces isotope ratio mass spectrometers used for stable isotope ratio measurement of

, sulphur,

and

in industry and academia. The production facility is located in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, United Kingdom. In 2013, the company was awarded The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export).

Customers

Elementar supplies instrumentation to manufacturing companies and service providers in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, the energy sector, food industry and agriculture.https://www.elementar.com/en/applications ''Elementar Applications''. Website of Elementar. Retrieved 2020-11-09.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Company Website

Technology companies of Germany Companies based in Hesse Technology companies established in 1897 1897 establishments in Germany